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Thursday, August 9, 2012

War Room and Steamroller tournaments: How this new app could affect you

This article is a guest blog from Chad Erway, owner of Gamers Sanctuary.Chad shares his thoughts about War Room, and reminds players to be cautious before relying on it just yet.
While there is much moaning, wailing and gnashing of teeth going on
about the glitches and bugs with Privateer Presses new War Room app, one
must expect that these faults will eventually get worked out and War
Room will end up making for a handy tool. However, as with any tool,
there are some inherent dangers.

First thing to note, which isn't really a danger so much as a 'For Your Information', War Room does NOT
need to connect to the internet in order for it to be used during a
game. You will need the internet in order update your War Room app or
download new material. You will also need a wireless connection of some
type (internet or phone based) when syncing up with your opponent's War
Room app but, other than than, War Room is pretty free roaming.

The danger with War Room is the same danger inherent in any
electronic device. Once you've developed a dependance on it, it can turn
around and burn you. For instance, take a look at this excerpt from the
Steamroller Tournament Rules 2012 v1.3:

"Players can also use the War Room application during SR2012
events. When using War Room during an event players can: mark damage on
War Room cards instead of physical stat cards; reference model and game
rules from War Room instead of physical stat cards or rulebooks; and
show EOs and opponents a
Theme Force’s rules on War Room. Players must still share their model
stats, damage, and so on with their opponent, whether or not that
opponent has War Room. If a player’s War Room device fails
during a game and the information cannot be recovered in a timely
manner, the player will concede that game."

Pay special attention to that bolded section. It is up to the event
organizer, Press Ganger or event judge to decide what is an
acceptable/reasonable amount of time when trying to bring your device
back up. So, you could very well end up doing the best you've ever done
at an event only to end up conceding a match due to the fact that your
electronic device died. That could bring any gamer to tears.

We're not saying not to use War Room. Once it's problems have been
corrected, it promises to be a great and time saving application. But,
maybe you'll want to bring those stat cards along... just to be on the
safe side.